- Rescue 11 victims
From: TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Police Command has arrested 18 suspected kidnappers and rescued 11 victims. The suspects were among kidnap gang members who operated in some local governments of the state.
Also, 22 armed robbers and 30 cult members were apprehended by the police between July 1 and now.
Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, who paraded the suspects yesterday at the Command’s headquarters, Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, said the feat was recorded following the command’s aggressive war against kidnappers and other criminal elements in the state.
Ahmed disclosed that among the kidnappers were those who abducted a traditional ruler in Okporo Mini, seven and five years old boys in Ozuoba and Oyigbo respectively, in Obio/Akpor and Oyigbo Local Government areas of the state.
Speaking further, CP Ahmed disclosed that among the arrested was the gang that had been terrorizing Emohua, Ahoada and Ikwerre local government areas of the state.
He added that the suspected cultists were nabbed from different parts of the state, noting that they are members of the two notorious cult groups, Icelanders and Greenlanders.
Among them were the cultists who beheaded four persons in Omudioga community, and a lawyer, the late Samuel Ikonwa.
Meanwhile, the command said 12 cultists, nine armed robbers and eight kidnappers were prosecuted within the period under review.
Items recovered from the hoodlums included cache of arms and ammunition, large quantities of Indian Hemp, as well as other drugs.